He watched his colleague and best friend's careful gaze on the young woman's wrist as he ran his hand across her, kneeling on the futon before them. She was one of their regular customers, returning at least once a week with various ailments at a time. It seemed as though this time, she had sprained her wrist as she volunteered at an orphanage, though Minseok doubted that she had ever set foot in any place less than pristine, judging by the condition of her perfectly manicured nails and professionally styled hair.

There was the pungent smell of perfume hanging around her which she switched around every few weeks or so. Why humans felt the need to mask themselves with such repulsive artificial scents was beyond him. Her attire would have been more fitting at a summer fashion show than an unheated hospital and Minseok avoided her watchful stare, careful to express nothing more than professional interest.

These female humans were always all too quick to make assumptions from his derisive glances.

"I can't detect any sign of muscle distress in your wrist. Maybe it was a small sprain and had healed before this visit." Yixing released their customer's hand and leaned back on his cushion, eyes darting across the page of symptoms she had written out, "And concerning that sore throat you were suffering last week-"

"It's much better thanks to your help Doctor Zhang." She purred throatily, reaching out and grasping his hand between her own, thumb rubbing against each individual knuckle with a hypnotising rhythm, "Your hands are like magic, with the ability to heal anything. I feel as though just touching them would cleanse out my body." She beamed, her teeth shining pearly white as she fixed her heavily mascaraed eyes on his heavy lidded pair.

Just watching her antics make Minseok want to wrench their hands apart and freeze her head in a solid block of ice, lest she continue batting those fake lashes.

"Yes, well…" Yixing cleared his throat and slid his hand from hers' gently as he turned his back to her to rifle amongst the drawers behind him; finally extracting a handful of dried leaves and wrapping them into a small paper package, "This should prevent it from returning any time soon. The instructions for their preparation is exactly the same as my previous prescriptions so you should be quite proficient at them, I should hope."

He returned her seductive gaze with a look so devoid of any romantic interest that her smile faltered and she accepted the packet a little more aggressively than needed. Minseok felt a rare urge to laugh in her face, despite his usual caring and considerate nature, yet his quiet and cultured education forced him to sit quietly and offer her a thin lipped smile as befits Yixing's assistant.

"It was lovely seeing you again Doctor Zhang." She bowed with a little shimmy, allowing the already high edge of her miniskirt to creep further upwards before her eyes landed on Minseok, bottom lip pursed out for the benefit of both of the handsome men before her. "You too Doctor Jin."

He noticed that she crushed the paper packet tightly in her hand as she exited, his sensitive hearing picking up the distinct rustle as she dumped it in the bin outside their house.

"Why do you bother giving her more prescriptions when you know that she only comes here for you. I doubt whether she actually needed your examinations." Minseok cupped his chin as he leant his elbow on the low table and watched his friend rub at his temples and heave out a heavy sigh, "You're just using up your resources and wasting your time. We could have attended to patients who really needed us."

"I know." Yixing gave a slow smile, pushing the table out of the way with his foot; forcing the elder to lift himself from his sprawled state, "That's why I have a reserve of dried weeds from our back courtyard for her. At least it brings in the money."

"You're starting to sound like a human." Minseok complained, "Money, money, money. You work too hard, Lay. I swear, if you ever say one more-"

The words died at his lips as the red head groaned and rolled onto his back, resting his head on the shorter boy's lap, drooping eyes fluttering shut, "Calm down Xiumin. You're always worrying so much. Stressing about the kids, the customers, the house, even the colour coordination of our wardrobe. You're acting like a mother." He stretched out his arms and wrapped them around the other's waist, hugging him closer and burying his face in the white silk fabric covering Minseok's abdomen, "Mmm, your heart's beating so quickly. I wonder why."

He could feel Yixing's smirk somewhere to the right of his belly button and swallowed down the hot ball forming in his throat. His face felt flushed and the neck of their traditional Chinese robes suddenly felt too tight and constricting.

Minseok ran his fingers through his junior's thick crimson tinted hair and closed his fist, grabbing a handful and pulling it gently, causing the red head to furrow his brow and groan deep in his throat, "Don't be silly. You know that we all share one mother. How could you even dare compare me to our Mama?"

"You know what I mean. You're the stereotypical human mother figure."

"I am not." He tugged a little harder in annoyance, "You and Kyungsoo are the ones who cook. Chanyeol too sometimes. I only-"

"Clean. Nag the younger boys about being tidier. Clean. Nag me. Clean. Nag-"

"Okay. Okay." He conceded, "But it's only because you all act like uncivilised humans. If only you'd make your bed straight after waki-"

"What bed? I sleep on the floor."

"Exactly! If only you'd sleep on the bed, then I would make our bed straight after waking up and I won't keep chasing after you to roll up your blanket. And you always forget to eat. You know that in our human forms, we have to eat. Otherwise we only gain energy through rest. You see what Sehun looked like after a month into his hunger strike!? I could use him as a broomstick with that ridiculous hair of his as a mop. And you're always-"

"Nagging." Yixing reminded, his eyes still closed, and bit into the front of Minseok's robe, teeth closing over a layer of skin.

He fell silent, content to simply watch the pale skin beneath his fingers and he lightly ran his nails over the protruding brow and slightly hooked nose. He loved Yixing's smile. His eyes when set with determination. His endless dedication to their household. The way he would fall asleep in Minseok's arms, yet end up on the floor when they woke up with the blanket stripped from the bed and twisted around his legs. It's cooler on the ground, He would tease Minseok; the two of them knowing all too well that it was the brunette's freezing power made the bed unbearable cold for the younger.

The red head pushed Minseok onto his back, inching up his chest and resting his chin over the other's heart; heavily lidded eyes making him seem drowsy, though the brunette knew better. Yixing was one of the most powerful of their kind, as a direct descendant of their Mama. Their mother figure; the maker of all life in their worlds, both old and new.

His speed and reflexes were amazing; rivaling even Kai's, despite being mentally rather slow.

They both glanced up at the sound of the door rolling open, Minseok's view of the room turned upside down as he lay on the floor. Kris' brows were pinched together in a frown so reminiscent of Sehun's that he had almost mistaken the blonde for his rainbow haired cousin.

"Where is everyone?" Kris dropped himself onto one of the futons, already holding a can of the dark bubbly liquid humans loved to drink. Minseok had personally hated the substance, its smell too sickeningly sweet for his taste. He had hidden the Duizhang's stash of Coca Cola from Sehun, having worried that both cousins would become addicts; the maknae having already showed extreme signs of withdrawal from the condensed milk he had inhaled by the bucket-load.

"It's Suho's turn to scout the area, making sure to keep an eye out for Minho's men." Yixing mumbled, pushing himself off the elder's chest, "In fact…" He brushed the stray red tinted strands off his face, "What are you still doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at Shin Corporation already?"

"Minho knows that I wake up late." The leader  lazily sipping at his drink, "I won't let that human tame me into waking early. One cannot change his nature at will."

Minseok wrinkled his nose at his